The treasures of the desk
I never was much of an art-collector. I have, while I was in the world of institutional art, often been in contact with art collectors, but of course in the role where I was relieved of art, not gathering it.
To me objects really do have a magic to them. I have been standing in front of Velasques' paintings for so long that my wife fell asleep on the Prado couches behind me, I have touched the stones of Delphi or been standing before the Sun-chariot and felt connected to the history in a way that is hard to describe.
But I never really had the big urge to own things. What I like best is small objects that can fit in my pocket - something that I can leave with in short notice. My pocket knife for example. I do feel deeply for that.
But in time you will also gather a lot of small pocket-size things - especially after you have children - and even though I do make subtle purgings it has ended up being a lot of small collections - that tend to pile up on my desk...
One of these collections is in a small Chinese display case, and figured in the self-portrait I made some days ago. @vcelier and @uwelang asked about it, so here it is:
It contains some rather peculiar objects that has been given to me by my family. Below I have taken off the glass for a better view.
From left to right and from top to bottom the objects are:
- A piece of Chalcedony that my wife somehow associated with testicles which she in turn associated with me.
- A small sculpture in aluminium given to me by my wife, by an artist whose name I have forgotten. It is a penis-tree and my wife, well...
- A piece of beautifully twisted bark that my youngest daughter found. It looks a bit like the Debian-logo.
- A turned piece of birch-wood that my wife made. It was meant for an art-project but didn't fit in, so I took it.
- A piece of flint I got from my eldest daughter, who gathered stones in enormous numbers when she was little. This stone is one of the most valuable of her findings and is called "the orca" because it looks like one, and because she always favoured sea animals over land animals.
- A piece of cardboard with a heart painted on it. It is made by my youngest daughter and I liked it because it reminded me of some of Malevitch's best works. The way the heart presses against all the edges...
- two small sculptures made by my eldest daughter put on a Danish 50 øre coin with the fabulous glue-pistol technique.
- A white porcelain imprint of my youngest daughters hand when pressed around the white clay (if you can imagine that). It was part of another project my wife made.
- A feather that has been reworked by my youngest daughter.
- A stone from the beach south of Durban which is close to the birthplace of my youngest daughter. It is slate and resembles the blade of the Iklwa Zulu spear.
- A 3d print from a model made in Blender by my nephew. It is a strange creature, half pig, half spider.
That looks awesome, thanks for posting and keeping us in the loop buddy
Of course. Such a thing should not be kept in the dark :)
You didn't tell me about the orange carpet? ;-)
Haha, yes, I forgot the important part didn't I. Well It was my wife that identified this little mess of things as a collection, and it was she that went to China and bought this marvellous display case with the orange carpet. She is a great esthete, but also a lover of kitsch and absurdity.
I just put my things in the box as I was told.
They are beautiful. I think they are part of your family histories. That's why they look more beautiful @katharsisdrill Followed. Hope to see your post again @katharsisdrill
Yes, something happens with thing when people move things. In Danish we say besjæle, means something like putting a soul into things :)
I like the word. Besjaele :) @katharsisdrill
It is a fine word :)